The name
SonargaonSonargaon came as the Bangla version of the ancient name
Suvarnagrama.[2] Buddhist ruler Danujamadhava
Dasharathadeva shifted
his capital to Suvarnagrama from
Bikrampur sometime in the middle of
the 13th century.[2] In early 14th century, Bauddha ruling in this
area ended when
Shamsuddin Firoz Shah (reigned 1301–1322) of
Lakhnauti occupied and annexed it to his kingdom.[3]
Muslim period[edit]

Muslim settlers first arrive in
SonargaonSonargaon region in around 1281.[5]
Sharfuddin Abu Tawwamah, a medieval
SufiSufi saint and
IslamicIslamic philosopher
came and settled here sometime between 1282 and 1287.[6] He then
established his
KhanqahKhanqah and founded a Madrasa.
Firoz Shah built a mint in
SonargaonSonargaon from where a large number of
coins were issued.[3] When he died in 1322, his son, Ghiyasuddin
Bahadur Shah, replaced him as the ruler. In 1324 Delhi Sultan,
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, declared war against him and after the battle,
Bahadur Shah was captured and Bengal, including Sonargaon, became a
province of Delhi Sultanate.[7] The same year, Sultan Muhammad bin
Tughlaq, son and successor of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, released him and
appointed him as the governor of
SonargaonSonargaon province.[8]
After 4 years of governorship, in 1328, Bahadur Shah declared
independence of Bengal. Delhi Sultan
Muhammad bin TughlaqMuhammad bin Tughlaq sent his
general, Bahram Khan, to depose him. In the battle, Bahadur Shah was
defeated and killed.
Bahram Khan recaptured
SonargaonSonargaon for the Delhi
SultanateSultanate and he was also appointed the governor of Sonargaon.[9]
When
Bahram Khan died in 1338, his armour-bearer, Fakhruddin Mubarak
Shah, declared himself the independent Sultan of Sonargaon.[5]
Fakhruddin sponsored several construction projects, including a trunk
road and raised embankments, along with mosques and tombs.[10] 14th
century Moroccan traveller, Ibn Batuta, after visiting the capital in
1346, described Fakhruddin as "a distinguished sovereign who loved
strangers, particularly the fakirs and sufis".[10] After the death of
Fakhruddin in 1349,
Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah became the next
independent ruler of Sonargaon.[11]
Ilyas Shah, the independent ruler of Lakhnauti, attacked
SonargaonSonargaon in
1352. After defeating Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah, he became the sole
ruler of whole
BengalBengal for the first time in history and thus he became
the founder of a sultanate of the unified Bengal.[12]
A squadron of the Chinese fleet of Zheng He, commanded by the eunuch
Hong Bao, visited
SonargaonSonargaon in 1432. The information about that
expedition comes from the book of one of its participants, the Muslim
translator Ma Huan.[1] In 1451 Huan wrote his experience in details in
his book Yingyai Shenglan (The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores).
SonargaonSonargaon is the eastern terminus of the Grand Trunk Road, which was
built by the Pashtun emperor
Sher Shah SuriSher Shah Suri and extended approximately
2500 kilometres from
BangladeshBangladesh across northern
IndiaIndia and
PakistanPakistan to
KabulKabul in Afghanistan.[5]
Isa Khan's rule[edit]
When
Taj Khan Karrani was the independent Afghan ruler of Bengal, Isa
Khan obtained an estate in
SonargaonSonargaon and Maheswardi Pargana in 1564 as
a vassal of the Karrani rulers.
Isa KhanIsa Khan gradually increased his
strength and in 1571 he was designated as the ruler of the whole Bhati
region. In 1575 he helped
Daud Khan Karrani fight the Mughal flotilla
in the vicinity of Sonargaon.[13]
Daud Khan Karrani died in the
Battle of Raj Mahal against Mughals in
1576.
AkbarAkbar then made
Isa KhanIsa Khan the zamindar of Sonargaon, making him
one of the Baro-Bhuiyans. However, he continued resisting Mughal rule.
With the help of his allies, he stood defiant against Mughals in
battle against Subahdar Khan Jahan in 1578, Subahdar Shahbaz Khan in
1584 and Durjan Singh in 1597.
Isa KhanIsa Khan died in September 1599. His
son, Musa Khan, then took control of the Bhati region. But after the
defeat of Musa Khan on 10 July 1610[14] by Islam Khan, the army
general of Mughals,
SonargaonSonargaon became one of the sarkars of Bengal
subah. The capital of
BengalBengal was then shifted to
JahangirnagarJahangirnagar (later
named Dhaka).
British period[edit]

Panam City was established in the late 19th century as a trading
centre of cotton fabrics during British rule.
HinduHindu cloth merchants
built their residential houses following colonial style with
inspiration derived from European sources.[2] Today this area is
protected under the Department of Archaeology of Bangladesh. The city
was linked with the main city area by three brick bridges – Panam
Bridge, Dalalpur Bridge and PanamNagar Bridge – during the Mughal
period. The bridges are still in use.
Sonakanda Fort is a Mughal river-fort located on the bank of the
Shitalakshya RiverShitalakshya River at Bandar.[15]
BangladeshBangladesh period[edit]
Lok Shilpa Jadughar
BangladeshBangladesh Folk Arts and Crafts Foundation of
SonargaonSonargaon was established by Bangladeshi painter
Joynul AbedinJoynul Abedin on 12
March 1975.[5] The house, originally called Bara Sardar Bari, was
built in 1901.
On 15 February 1984,
NarayanganjNarayanganj subdivision was upgraded to a
district by the Government of Bangladesh.[16] Hence
SonargaonSonargaon became a
subdistrict of
NarayanganjNarayanganj District of
DhakaDhaka division.
Due to the many threats to preservation (including flooding and
vandalism),
SonargaonSonargaon was placed in 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most
Endangered Sites by the World Monuments Fund.[17]
Trade[edit]
By the 14th century
SonargaonSonargaon became a commercial port. Trade
activities were mentioned by travellers like Ibn Batuta,
Ma HuanMa Huan and
Ralph Fitch.[2] Maritime ships travelled between
SonargaonSonargaon and
southeast/west Asian countries.[2]
MuslinMuslin was produced in this region.
See also[edit]